Pullela Gopichand is not worried about the form of PV Sindhu

PV Sindhu has been going through a rough patch lately but her former coach Pullela Gopichand thinks that it is not a matter of concern.

PV Sindhu has not been at her best and has suffered from inconsistency since returning from a shoulder injury. However, chief national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand believes that there is no reason to worry about and that is far from being a concern.

Sindhu failed to impress and suffered yet another first round exit on Tuesday when she lost to world number 1 Akane Yamaguchi in the Singapore Open.

“She’s very young in saying that she’s just 26-27. It’s a good age, there is no reason for concern,” Gopichand told PTI in a virtual interaction.

Sindhu is one of the greatest badminton players in India’s history. She won a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics and also won bronze in Tokyo in 2021. However, Sindhu then suffered an ankle injury in August last year to be slipped out of top-10 in the BWF women’s singles rankings. She remained out of action for four months because of that injury.

As far as this season is concerned, Sindhu’s final and semi-final finishes at the Madrid Spain Masters and Malaysia Masters were her best finishes this season. However, the low point was when she suffered a first round exit at the Thailand Open when she lost to Cananda’s Michell Li.

But Gopichand, a former All England champion who guided Sindhu since she was 10 till she became an Olympic medallist, firmly believed she would bounce back stronger.

“She has come out on top in the six-eight months. She is starting to play well. I do expect her to play well in future. She is definitely one of India’s bets for the future,” Gopichand said.

“It’s the beginning of the season and beginning of Olympic qualification. The results have been mixed so far.

“We have a lot of pressure on players to perform. We have to just back them up and hope that they are playing the big tournaments.”

It has been a mixed season for Sindhu but Indian badminton found its moment in the sun with HS Prannoy winning the Malaysia Masters title last month. It was the 30-year-old’s first triumph since 2017.

“From our perspective in general, Prannoy winning in Malaysia was a good one that’s something I’m really happy about. it’s the beginning of the season, it’s early.

“We have not done well at the Sudirman Cup, it was kind of a negative note. Lakshya Sen did well to get to the semifinals in Thailand, and I do believe that the next few weeks will be very critical and we have big tournaments coming up,” said the 49-year-old Gopichand.

The elite badminton players in the country are all training with personal coaches. Sindhu is training with Vidhi Chuadhary, while the struggling Kidambi Srikkanth has roped in Wiempie Mahardi of Indonesia with an eye on Paris Olympics next year.

“In general, the rigours of having to play back-to-back, players have started to feel that they need personal coaches,” said Gopichand.

“If one has won then everybody starts to believe that they do need one. This is something that has been happening.

“In the Olympic year, it’s everybody’s need to have that personal attention. I think it’s a trend that has started, many also follow it in other sports. I’m okay with that.”